Israel

Political framework for scientific and technological cooperation

The pillars of Germany and Israel’s cooperation are the Minerva Foundation, the interministerial research partnership between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Israeli Ministries of Science, Culture and Sports (MOST) and of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL), the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), and the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP). The latest cooperation programme is the Martin Buber Society of Fellows, founded in December 2009.
 
The Minerva Foundation (Minerva-Stiftung Gesellschaft für die Forschung mbH) has been in existence for more than 40 years. Its establishment marked the beginning of scientific cooperation between Germany and Israel. Since 1973, the interministerial partnership with MOST has been supporting research institutions from both countries through the specialist programmes of the BMBF. In addition, the BMBF and MOITAL have been working together since 2002 to support application-oriented collaborative projects between companies and research institutions in both countries. A further key element of cooperation is the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), which was established in 1986. Since 1997, the BMBF has been supporting larger interdisciplinary German-Israeli projects in forward-looking areas of research through the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP). The DIP has been overseen by the DFG since 2008. The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities was founded in late 2009. The first new fellows began their work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in September 2010.

The BMBF is also involved in multilateral collaborative projects with Israel and its Arab neighbours, mainly in the fields of marine research, environmental technologies and water technologies. One of the aims of these efforts is to support the peace process in the Middle East.

Current priorities of cooperation

Through the Minerva Research Centres at Israeli universities and research institutions, the three programmes of the Minerva Foundation support cooperation with Germany by offering scholarships for young researchers and by funding projects at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. Since 2008, the Minerva Foundation has awarded the ARCHES prize to two German-Israeli research teams each year in recognition of their joint research projects.

The priorities of the interministerial partnership are the natural sciences and technology, including the areas of marine sciences, geosciences, biotechnology, environmental research, optical technologies, neurosciences, cancer research, energy research (BMU-MOST) and water technologies. In 2006, the range of areas in which Germany and Israel cooperate was extended to include the social sciences, with a first project on the subject of migration. For several years now, the funding of German-Israeli collaborative projects between science and industry has been focusing on application-oriented, industry-relevant research. Civil security research was included in the cooperation as a new area in 2009. Funding for joint German-Israeli research and business projects has for some time now been emphasising application- and industry-oriented research. In 2006, the range of activities was expanded by a first joint project in the social sciences on the subject of migration.

The GIF supports top-class research in practically all scientific fields, although the thematic priorities change on an annual basis. In addition, the foundation set up a special Young Scientists’ Programme in 2000. In 2005, the BMBF and MOST agreed to increase the GIF’s endowment by €50 million to a total of €211 million by 2007.

The DIP is mainly aimed at teams of researchers who work together in innovative areas. It is not limited to specific fields of science; collaborative projects in the humanities and social sciences are eligible for funding as well. However, the priority areas are physics, life sciences, and chemistry.

The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities (Martin Buber Society for short) was founded in 2009. The aim of the foundation is to promote interdisciplinary and intercultural academic dialogue between outstanding young scholars in all areas of the humanities.

The German-Israeli Cooperation Programme in Vocational Education and Training has the aim of developing vocational training in both countries. For almost 40 years now, this programme has been giving vocational training experts from both countries the opportunity to exchange experiences, develop innovative approaches, and test them in their practical work. Jointly developed teaching materials for training in the automotive and IT sectors as well as in microsystems technology are used in both countries. This work makes it possible to respond to new technological, economic and demographic challenges in the area of vocational training. The products of the collaboration are available on the programme’s results platform (www.inwent.org/israel).

Funding for collaborations

The BMBF supports scientific collaboration with Israel through a total of four cooperation programmes with different aims. As part of the bilateral collaboration between German and Israeli ministries, funding is provided for a wide range of subject areas from biotechnology to the social sciences. In addition, a number of state-funded organisations, but also private foundations are actively involved in promoting collaboration with Israel.
The International Bureau advises interested parties on the various funding options and provides contacts for the various programmes.

In addition to the cooperation programmes of the BMBF, a number of organisations funded by the BMBF and other public authorities, such as the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) engage in promoting collaboration, as do private foundations, particularly the VW Foundation, the Thyssen Stiftung and the Krupp Stiftung. In the last 40 years, Germany has provided approximately 550 million euros in funding for collaboration with Israeli research institutions, not including the joint German-Israeli Foundation. Of this sum, approximately 380 million euros were made available by the Federal Government through the BMBF and its predecessors; over 170 million euros came from German foundations and numerous private donors, of which approximately 30 million euros were from the VW Foundation alone.

Role of the International Bureau

• The International Bureau supports the BMBF in managing and developing the existing funding programmes. It functions as an interface between the various funding organisations and the BMBF.
• The International Bureau has detailed knowledge of the research landscape in Israel and all bi- and multilateral programmes, and is therefore available as a point of contact for all matters relating to research in and with Israel.
• The International Bureau advises interested parties on the various funding options and provides contacts for the respective programmes.

Cooperation highlights

2009
The Martin Buber Society of Fellows was founded in 2009. Beginning in 2010, ten excellent young researchers (five from Germany, five from Israel) will conduct research and reside at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The aim of the public-law foundation is to specifically support young humanities scholars in order to on the one hand ensure that the humanities retain their place in the academic world and on the other hand actively participate in solving global issues.
The German-Israeli cooperation in civil security research was launched on the basis of the joint declaration of the BMBF and the then Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport of 8 April 2008. In Germany the ministries are involved, as is common practice in security research. In Israel, in addition to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL) is also participating with its own funds; the Ministry of Health will contribute its own funds through the MOST. In 2009, a first call for proposals on the key topics of “Detection of Hazardous Substances”, “Protecting Critical Infrastructures” and “Disaster Control and Crisis Management” was published. 32 German-Israeli proposal outlines were submitted in response to this first joint call for proposals. Following an evaluation period, eight projects were selected for funding in late 2009.

2008
The year 2008 was declared “German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology” by the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan, and the Israeli Minister of Science and Technology, Galeb Majadle; the opening ceremony took place on 8 April in Berlin. The Year aimed to present the diversity and excellence of the bilateral scientific cooperations and generate publicity for Germany as a location for research in Israel. Its main focus was on collaborations between young scientists from the two countries. The Science Year provided fresh impulses for application-oriented research and development cooperations and strengthened the humanities and social sciences. One milestone on this path was the construction of the Minerva Centre for the Humanities in late 2008. Further key topics of the Year were the medical sciences, security and environmental research.

2007
The increase of the GIF’s endowment by €50 million to a total of €211 million was completed in 2007. The BMBF and MOST each provided an equal share of these funds. The fact that this was achieved despite the extremely difficult budgetary situation in Israel is a further reflection of the importance of the German-Israeli research partnership. With the help of these funds, the GIF will be able to trigger new and important developments in the cooperation support of both countries. In October, the German Research Association (DFG) and the BMBF jointly celebrated the 10th anniversary of the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP) by organizing an anniversary symposium in Jerusalem.

2006
Federal Minister Dr Annette Schavan paid a visit to Israel in June 2006. During this trip, she met with the Israeli Minister of Science and Research and the Minister of Industry and also visited some of the most important Israeli universities and the Weizmann Institute. On the occasion of this trip, a call for proposals for the third phase of the successful industrial R&D collaboration in the field of biotechnology was issued. A new collaboration on the subject of “Migration and Social Integration“ was launched. In addition, the Minister gave a special German award to three winners of the Israeli “Young Scientists” competition, which is similar to the “Jugend forscht” (“Young Researchers”) competition in Germany. This special award included a three-week invitation to Germany. The three young prize winners were hosted by the University of Göttingen. Last but not least, cooperation in the field of water technology was intensified considerably. As a result of the large scientific conference “Water is Life” (see below), which marked the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, the number of applications for young scientists’ scholarships increased threefold, which is a very positive development. For this reason, the Minister’s visit was used as an occasion to increase the budget of the exchange programme for young scientists in the field of water technology.

The Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg commemorated the 30th anniversary of the cooperation programme in the field of cancer research by organizing a German-Israeli Symposium on Cancer Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and at Tel Aviv University on 19 and 20 March 2006.

2005

To mark the 40th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, the International Bureau of the BMBF (IB) and MOST organized a scientific symposium on the subject of “Water is Life”, which took place in Jerusalem on 7 and 8 December 2005. BMBF state secretary Prof. Frieder Meyer-Krahmer and MOST Director General David Leffler welcomed almost 100 German and 200 Israeli scientists and representatives of different funding organizations at this event. During the two-day symposium, the participants not only discussed the history and accomplishments of Germany and Israel’s research partnership as exemplified by the field of water research, but also talked about current priorities and perspectives. A poster exhibition accompanied the event, providing a cross-section of the results of the numerous other areas of cooperation and of participating research organizations. It rounded out the picture of the long-standing science cooperation between Germany and Israel.

Some ideas that had been put forward at this conference encouraged the BMBF to begin the new transboundary project "Integrated Water Resources Management - SMART" together with partners in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, for which research funding of almost €10 million are being provided.

On the occasion of the anniversary, the brochure on Israel was updated and was presented to the public at the symposium in Jerusalem in December 2005 by State Secretary Frieder Meyer-Krahmer.

2004
Aaron Ciechanover, of the medical faculty of the Technion in Haifa, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, for a research subject that had been partly financed by the DIP between 1999 and 2003. Together with Avraham Hershko, his Israeli doctoral thesis supervisor, and the American scientist Irvin Rose, Ciechanover discovered the role of ubiquitin in cellular protein degradation, a process which is of considerable importance in cancer research, particularly in protecting against tumours. It was the first time that Israeli researchers had received a Nobel Prize in the sciences.

The path for this research had been paved in several German-Israeli cooperation projects. For example, the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF), the Volkswagen Foundation and the inter-ministry collaboration between the BMBF and MOST provided funding for a total of four projects.